The current worldwide political climate has produced many terrorist and anti-establishment factions that are motivated to create explosive devices from commonly available consumer products. For example, roadside or improvised explosive devices known as IEDs have been encountered in Afghanistan and in Iraq by the U.S. military and in Boston by local police.
A common practice used in constructing an IED involves the acquisition and disassembly of easily acquired consumer grade explosive products such as fireworks or small arms ammunition. The products are disassembled, yielding explosive material, e.g., black powder or other incendiary material. The explosive material is then combined with projectiles such as nails or broken glass and encased in a rigid container such as an aluminum cooking pot. The results are easily concealed and a deadly combination that is both inexpensive and effective.
Consumer grade explosive products contain various explosive materials. For example, gunpowder is a very common chemical explosive and comes in two basic forms, modern, smokeless gunpowder and traditional, black powder gunpowder. Black powder is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, and the saltpeter is an oxidizer. The standard composition for gunpowder is about 75% potassium nitrate, about 15% charcoal, and about 10% sulfur (proportions by weight). The ratios can be altered somewhat depending on the purpose of the powder. For instance, power grades of gunpowder, unsuitable for use in firearms but adequate for blasting rock in quarrying operations, have proportions of about 70% nitrate, about 14% charcoal, and about 16% sulfur. Some blasting powder may be made with cheaper sodium nitrate substituted for potassium nitrate and proportions may be as low as about 40% nitrate, about 30% charcoal, and about 30% sulfur.
Most pyrotechnic compositions and explosive materials can be neutralized when mixed with an appropriate combination of inert materials, slowing the burn rate of the explosive material to a non-explosive level that effectively neutralizes the explosive material and renders the explosive material useless for an improvised explosive device.
The prior art addresses the neutralization of explosive devices. However, none of the prior art devices or methods is completely satisfactory in neutralizing explosive materials in consumer products.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,287 to Maegerlein, et al. provides a neutralizing assembly for inhibiting operation of an explosive device. The neutralizing assembly will interrupt the function of the explosive device only when the explosive device is misused. The neutralizing assembly includes an interior chamber with a rupturable barrier containing disabling material. The rupturable barrier separates the disabling material from the explosive material. Upon misuse of the device, the rupturable barrier breaks and the disabling material is released from the interior chamber to disable the explosive material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,276 to Picard, et al. discloses a halocarbon gel for stabilizing an explosive material during transport. In use, flexible bags are prepared which contain the explosive material mixed with a desensitizing substance. The bags are placed in a protective gel. The gel prevents the desensitizing substance from evaporating through the flexible bags. When the transport is complete, the bags are removed from the gel. Once the bags are removed from the gel, the desensitizing substance evaporates, thus “arming” the explosive material.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0124945 to Smylie, et al. discloses a cartridge that is adapted to achieve deactivation of an explosive composition. In Smylie, the explosive composition and the chemical deactivating agent are held in separate chambers of the cartridge separated by a wall. Upon activation, the wall is breached and the deactivating agent and the explosive composition are allowed to mix, thereby rendering the explosive composition inert.
It is, therefore, an object of this disclosure to provide a design for and method of manufacture of products which include an undetectable neutralizing agent that automatically and effectively neutralizes an explosive material upon disassembly.